Flashcard 1 (Back of no.8)
“Get out of my sight! Don’t ever let me see you again!”
This was just after the ninth disaster, darkness which God had brought on Egypt, and the king was furious with Moses. But little did he know that his time was running out. But Moses knew. God is not patient forever with people who refuse to obey Him. When the king threatened him he agreed, “You are right. You will never see me again. But your officials will. They will come to see me, BEGGING me to take the people of Israel out of Egypt. And then, I will leave.”
Flashcard 2 (Back of no.1)
Why on earth would the king’s officials come to Moses and beg him to leave? Because the tenth and the last disaster that the LORD planned to bring on Egypt would upset them so much that they would be prepared to do anything to get rid of the Israelites.
“At about midnight,” Moses told the king, “the LORD says that He will go through Egypt, and every firstborn son will die, from the son of the king to the son of the very poor woman who grinds corn for a living. The firstborn of the cattle will also die. It will be dreadful – the worst day in the entire history of Egypt. But no harm will come to the Israelites or to their animals. And then you will know that the LORD acts as a Holy Judge. Finally, this last dreadful punishment will make you see sense, and you will let the people go as you should have done when the LORD told you to the first time.”
Flashcard 3 (Back of no.2)
Moses called for all the leaders of Israel and explained how the LORD was going to punish the Egyptians by killing their firstborn sons, and reassured them that if they did exactly what they were told then their families would be safe.
“The Lord in punishing Egypt because of their disobedience. If you obey, you will be safe. Each of you is to choose a lamb or a young goat and kill it so that your families can celebrate the new festival which is to be called the Passover.”
Flashcard 4 (Back of no.3)
Take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the bowl containing the animal’s blood and wipe the blood on the doorposts and the beam above the door of your house. Not one of you is to leave the house until morning. When the LORD goes through Egypt to kill the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the beams and doorposts and will not let the Angel of Death enter your houses and kill you.”
Flashcard 5 (Back of no.4)
That night the Israelites all stayed safely inside, and kept the festival of the Passover for the first time. They had to eat quickly, and they were dressed ready to travel with their sandals on their feet and their walking sticks in their hands. This was because they had to move as soon as they were given the signal. They had to be packed ready to go. There would never be another night like it.
Flashcard 6 (Back of no.5)
The LORD never says that He will do something and then not do it. He did pass over the houses of the Israelites. When He saw a doorpost with blood on it he knew that the people inside were people who obeyed Him, and He passed by. He saved them as He had promised. But in every Egyptian household He acted the Holy Judge and killed the firstborn son, from the King’s son who was heir to the throne, to the son of the prisoner in the dungeon. And all the firstborn of the animals were also killed. That night there was loud crying throughout Egypt, because there was not one home in which there was not a dead son.
Flashcard 7 (Back of no.6)
That same night, just as Moses had predicted, the king sent a message with his officials who came bowing and begging him to take the people and leave the country as quickly as possible.
“Get out! Go! Leave! Take your cattle! Take your sheep! Take everything! Here – take our gold and jewellery, and here, have some of our clothes. Just go! And as you go please ask your God to bless us. We’ll all be dead if He doesn’t!”
So the people of Israel filled their baking pans with their bread which was only half made, took the gold and silver and jewellery offered by the Egyptians, gathered their families and flocks and left. Finally, after 430 years of slavery, and months and months of God’s promises and the king’s stubbornness they were able to leave. And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day – the day on which you left Egypt, the place where you were slaves. This is the day the LORD brought you out by His great power. And you are to remember that He saved you by celebrating the festival of the Passover each year. There will never be another night like it!” And for years and years that was true. The night on which the LORD rescued the people from their slavery in Egypt was the most important day or night ever.
Flashcard 8 (Back of no.7)
But there has been one other day which is even more important than that day. And that was the day when God acted to save us all from our sin. When we do not know God we are slaves to sin – like the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. There was no way that they could have escaped from slavery without God’s help. And there is no way that we can get away from being slaves to sin without God’s help either. Thankfully, God has helped us. When Jesus died on the cross He broke the power of sin, and we can be free from God’s punishment which must eventually fall on people if they keep refusing to obey him. Because Jesus died, our sins can be forgiven. Just as the people of Israel walked out of Egypt and away from slavery, we can walk away from sin and God’s punishment of sin by believing and following the Lord Jesus Christ.
For the people of Israel there would never be a more important day than the day when they were saved from slavery until that day when Jesus died to save us from the punishment which we deserve because of our sins. And for Christians, there’s never been another day like it! |
